


A Life in Seven Long Drives

by numinous_mysteries (igloo_octopus)



Category: The X-Files
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-08 11:45:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10385934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/igloo_octopus/pseuds/numinous_mysteries
Summary: [For @xfficchallenges Dialogue Challenge on Tumblr]





	

October 1993

“Jeez, Scully, I wouldn’t have pegged you for having a lead foot.”

“What?”

“You’re speeding.”

“I know. I have to get back to D.C. by 2.”

“Another hot date?”

“No. A bridal shower.”

“Why do a sense that you’re less than enthused about that?”

“Mulder, they’re the worst. I have to pretend to gush over kitchen supplies and then there are always these ridiculous games.”

“Games? Tell me more about these games you play with your girl friends.”

"Don’t get too excited. It’s usually something like a purse scavenger hunt where you get points for the oddest things you’re carrying around.”

“Do you get bonus points for a gun?”

“Well, I’m planning on dropping mine off at home beforehand. Otherwise I might be too tempted to use it.”

“It can’t be that bad. You’ll see your friends.”

“Well, Tracy–she’s the bride-to-be–is an old college friend but I haven’t been great at keeping in touch over the years. I’m surprised I’m even invited. Anyway, do you have plans for the rest of the weekend?”

“Just crossing my fingers this month’s NICAP newsletter is waiting for me. Along with, um, maybe some other recreational publications.”

“Come on, Mulder. Don’t you do anything for fun?”

“Um, you mean, this isn’t fun?”

“Hunting down the Jersey Devil?”

“Hey, watch that eyebrow, partner. This–this work–is my life.”

“It doesn’t have to be. There’s more to life than this.”

“Maybe for you. And don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you feel that way. You should feel that way. It’s good to have friends, and hobbies, and even bridal showers that elicit homicidal rage. I’d hate to see you lose all that, Scully.”

“Thank you, Mulder. And I hope you do have something good in your life besides this.”

“Didn’t I mention those recreational publications?”

***

January 1995

“I was serious about what I said earlier, Scully. I’ve seen experienced agents brought to their knees by far less disturbing cases. You have nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I’m not ashamed.”

“Good. It’s just that you’ve been…quiet.”

“I’m tired.”

“We’ll be back soon. Do you want me to drop you off at home? Or maybe your mom’s or your sister’s?”

“Home is fine.”

“Okay. I thought you might want to have someone to talk to.”

“I’m fine, Mulder.”

“Okay.”

“Besides, I doubt either of them would want to hear I was nearly killed so soon after–”

“After your abduction.”

“After I went missing.”

“Right.”

“I’m sure they’d both urge me to go back to practicing medicine.”

“Is that what you want?”

“No.”

“This is a dangerous job.”

“Yes, Mulder, I know that. I knew that when I joined the FBI and I feel the same way now that I did then–that it’s worth it, that I’m doing something meaningful. If we didn’t apprehend Pfaster he would have certainly killed again.”

“You could make a difference as a doctor, too.”

“This is what I want to be doing.”

“Well, for selfish reasons that’s good for me to hear. You’re a damn good agent.”

“Thank you, Mulder.”

“But that doesn’t mean you can’t talk to someone if you need. Maybe call a friend or…”

“Maybe.”

“Or you can talk to me.”

“There’s nothing more to talk about, Mulder. I was in a dangerous situation but it’s been resolved and I’m fine now.”

“Alright. Well, um, I’m just a phone call away if you need anything.”

“I won’t bother you over the weekend.”

“You could never bother me. Besides, it’s not like I have any other plans.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

***

October 1995

“What’s wrong, Mulder?”

“Hmm?”

“We’re in Oklahoma en route to investigate lightening attacks coordinated by extraterrestrials or the CIA or–”

“I never said extraterrestrials.”

“Okay, but my point is–usually you’d be a bit more enthusiastic about this sort of thing.”

“I’m just thinking.”

“Okay.”

“And I feel guilty.”

“Mulder, what happened to Melissa was not your fault. She was killed by a man who we will find and bring to justice.”

“If you weren’t working with me–”

“Stop, Mulder, you can’t think like that.”

“How can I not think about that? This has always been personal for me, ever since my sister was taken, but it shouldn’t be for you. These bastards already ruined my family, they shouldn’t get to ruin yours. It’s enough that you were taken–”

“But I was taken, and Melissa is dead. It’s going to be personal for me. It’s personal for me anyway because we’re looking for your sister and you’re my partner and my friend.”

“Well then I’m a pretty shitty friend for dragging you into a global conspiracy. The worst thing you had to deal with before me was, what, some boring bridal shower? I think I’m the worst friend you could possibly have.”

“That’s not true.”

“It is true.”

“No, Mulder, trust me, it’s not. Working with you has challenged my beliefs and my assumptions about the world in ways I never thought possible. The things we’ve seen, Mulder, I wouldn’t go back even if I had the chance.”

“Even after all it’s cost you? How could you say that?”

“Because even though I may not believe in everything you believe in, I do believe in you. I believe there is a truth out there, and that we will find it, and when we do we may be able to help so many people. All the names in those files. You aren’t going to give up and neither am I.”

“Don’t let it become your life.”

“It’s not my life. But it’s my job and I plan on fulfilling my responsibilities. We’ve seen so much we have to keep going. And UFO-generated lightening seems as good a place as any to start.”

“I never said UFOs, Scully.”

****

May 1997

“I shouldn’t have called you.”

“Mulder, I don’t know what would have happened to you if you hadn’t.”

“I know. But you’ve been so sick. And now you’re driving me home.”

“I’m fine.”

“I hope that’s true.”

“Mulder…”

“What? As your partner–and I would hope as your friend–I have a right to know how you’re doing.”

“What about me, Mulder? Don’t I have a right to know that you’re undergoing extremely questionable–and extremely dangerous–medical procedures that damage your cognitive abilities? That leave you blacked out with no recollection that you may have shot someone? Isn’t that my right?”

“If it could help me figure out what happened to my sister, it would all be worth it.”

“Really, Mulder? Is it worth the tumor in my brain?”

“Oh, fuck. Fuck, Scully, you know I didn’t mean that.”

“I told you a few months ago that this work has become my life. And that’s even more true now. I deserve answers as much as you do, Mulder. And I deserve the truth from you.”

“You’re right.”

“I’m glad you agree.”

“We’re going to find who did this to you–who’s responsible for your cancer. And we’re going to find a cure." 

"We may not, Mulder. And you need to accept that.”

“Now that’s something we don’t agree on.”

“Mulder…”

“No. I’m going to find a way to help you. That’s more important now than anything. And you’re right, I should have told you I was working with Goldstein, but I think if I found out what happened to Samantha it could help us find out what happened to you–and how to help you.”

“I’m not your sister, Mulder. You’re not responsible for me. You don’t have to save me.”

“Yes, I do. You said it yourself–who knows what would happen to me if I didn’t have you to call? You think Skinner would find me covered in someone else’s blood and not have my ass immediately behind bars? You saved me. You save me every day. Let me do the same for you.”

“I know you’ll do everything you can. Just don’t let it break you.”

“I don’t think I have a choice.”

****

November 1997

“I cannot wait to get these clothes off and take a hot shower.”

“I’m right there with you, partner.”

“In the shower with me?”

“You said it, Scully, not me.”

“How many miles is Florida from D.C., again?”

“Too goddamn many.”

“Amen to that.”

“You can sing to help pass the time. ‘Jeremiaaaahhh’”

“Oh, stop. It wasn’t that bad.”

“I actually found it quite endearing.”

“I know you’re not being serious, but thank you, Mulder.”

“Hey, Scully, we should go camping sometime. Like with a tent. And a sleeping bag.”

“Just one bag?”

“Well if it’s cold…”

“I know, I know. But I’m not going camping with you, Mulder.”

“Why not?”

“First of all, you may be an Indian Guide but I’m no Girl Scout, and I much prefer the comforts of flushing toilets and electricity.”

“Oh, come on, you’re no fun.”

“And besides, do you really think you and I could spend a night in the woods without a moth man or tree monster or mutant man-eating rabbit finding us?”

“'Man-eating rabbit?’”

“We’ve seen stranger.”

“You’re probably right.”

“I know I’m right.”

“You really never went camping as a kid? Never roughed it Communed with nature?”

“You know, believe it or not, when I was sick and feeling self-pitying by thinking of all the things I’d never have a chance to do, communing with nature never made the list.”

“What did?”

“Hmm?”

“What made your list? Of things you wanted to do?”

“Nothing too surprising. I’d want to have a family…”

“You can do that now. You should do that now. Screw the moth men and live your life, Scully.”

“This is my life.”

“Don’t say that. It doesn’t have to be anymore. You nearly died. Do you know how many time I saw you in that hospital bed and I wished you’d never been assigned to the X-files?”

“I never wished that, Mulder.”

“Why the hell not? You’d probably be living a cushy life with a surgeon husband, some cute kids, maybe even a real dog, not a yappy little furball that gets eaten by Big Blue, instead of driving back from Florida your moth man chasing partner.”

“First of all, Mulder, it was an alligator. Second of all, I liked Queequeg, and finally, I think a life like that would bore me to tears.”

“So you’re sticking with me and the moth men?”

“I can live without the moth men.”

***

November 1998

“I thought you said a life like that would, and I quote, 'bore you to tears.’”

“What?”

“When we were driving out here. You said you wanted to get out of the car and live a, again I quote, 'normal life.’”

“I asked if you wanted one. I didn’t say I did.”

“I assumed that’s what you were implying.”

“Maybe there’s something in between. This is our lives, yes, but maybe there’s a way to continue our work and still have something outside of that.”

“At the risk of digging myself into a deeper hole, I’d like to point out that when we first met you did have something approaching a normal life. You used to go to bridal showers and your friend’s recitals, and, um, you went on dates.”

“Who’s to say I don’t still go on dates?”

“Shit. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed.”

“No, you’re right. I don’t do any of that anymore and it’s my own choice. I chose our work, I’ve told you that. I’m just saying maybe there’s a way to have both. Like, what if Emily had lived and I adopted her? I wouldn’t have left the X-files.”

“Do you want to adopt a child?”

“No. Maybe. I don’t know, I’m just thinking out loud.”

“Because if you want to, I think you should. And I wouldn’t expect you to stay on the X-files.”

“Well, it’s not something I’m seriously thinking about.”

“I’d support you if it was. I know you think I was high out of my mind but I meant what I said when you rescued me from my little trip to the Bermuda Triangle.”

“That you and I met in a parallel universe in 1939?”

“I did mean that, too. But I’m talking about what I said after that. That–that I love you.”

“That’s very sweet, Mulder.”

“No, you don’t know what I mean. I, Fox William Mulder, am in love with you, Dana Katherine Scully. I think I have been for a while but when I was on that ship it finally clicked–that if I were to die, my only regret would be never telling you. And I’m not expecting you to say it back or that we start seeing each other or anything, I just want you to know that I do love you and I want you to have everything you want in life. A house, a family, a white picket fence. You deserve all that and more and I don’t want to be standing in your way anymore.”

“Wow.”

“Wow?”

“That’s a lot to take in.”

“Shit. I’m sorry–”

“No, don’t be sorry, And you’re not standing in my way. You never were. I’ll say it again, I chose to stay with the X-files, and with you. And maybe one day I’ll choose to adopt a child and maybe I won’t, but the one thing that’s remained certain all these years is that we have each other’s back. And that’s never going to change.”

“That, um…that means a lot to me. I’ll take that as a Scully confession of true love.”

“Oh focus on the road, Mulder.”

***

April 2000

“I’m sorry for ditching you on a stakeout, but with your little legs I don’t think you have much to complain about. Try doing that with another foot on you.”

“Shut up and drive me home, Mulder.”

“I’m just trying to lighten the mood.”

“My mood will not be close to being lightened until I am sinking into my hot bathtub.

"Thinking of that certainly lightens my mood.”

“You know it’s really shocking that in seven years I haven’t pulled a muscle from rolling my eyes so often.”

“Come on, you love it.”

“If you say so.”

“You’ll never guess what Ellen Adderly asked me at family dinner.”

“What?”

“Guess!”

“No, Mulder.”

“Fine. She asked if I had a significant other.”

“That’s awfully personal.”

“Don’t you want to know what I said?”

“I don’t know, do I?”

“I said I didn’t, but only in 'the widely understood definition of that term.;”

“And what would that definition be?”

“You’d have to ask Noah Webster that one. But I’m pretty sure it doesn’t cover FBI partner who I am wholeheartedly in love with and sometimes have the pleasure of enjoying her,um, company in bed but can’t make any of that public because a global syndicate planning an alien takeover of our planet would use it to destroy us. I mean, unless you think it should cover that?”

“Agent Mulder, are you–on the heels of ditching me at a stakeout let’s not forget–asking me to be your girlfriend?”

“I was going for everlasting soulmate, but sure, I’ll settle for girlfriend.”

“You don’t have to settle.”

“What?”

“I love you, Mulder.”

“Scully, you gave me the benefit of the doubt with painkillers, I’m willing to give you the same for sleep deprivation.”

“I’m not sleep deprived. Well, yes, I am very, very, extremely sleep deprived, but I mean it. I love you. And I realized I haven’t said it before but it’s true. I, Dana Katherine Scully, love you, Fox William Mulder.”

“We have to stop doing this in cars. I want more than anything to kiss you right now but I think I’d be putting both our lives in danger.”

“We’ll have time for that later.”

“After that hot bath?”

“Before. After. During. Always.”

“What’s the speed limit again?”

“Looks like I’m not the only one with a lead foot.”

“I have a bath to look forward to. Way better than a bridal shower.”


End file.
